Subj : Re: Um...no comment? To : alt.tv.farscape From : Nick Date : Fri Sep 02 2005 13:28:20 From Newsgroup: alt.tv.farscape John Iwaniszek wrote: > "RR" wrote in > news:a0QRe.210679$0f.188639@tornado.texas.rr.com: > >> John Iwaniszek wrote: >> >>>> In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one >>>> of the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But the Bush >>>> administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent >>>> to pay for the Iraq war. >>>> >>>> A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study how >>>> New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but >>>> the Bush administration ordered that the research not be >>>> undertaken. >>>> >>>> After a flood killed six people in 1995, Congress created the >>>> Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, in which the >>>> Corps of Engineers strengthened and renovated levees and pumping >>>> stations. In early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency >>>> issued a report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was >>>> one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S., including a >>>> terrorist attack on New York City. But by 2003 the federal funding >>>> for the flood control project essentially dried up as it was >>>> drained into the Iraq war. In 2004, the Bush administration cut >>>> funding requested by the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army >>>> Corps of Engineers for holding back the waters of Lake >>>> Pontchartrain by more than 80 percent. Additional cuts at the >>>> beginning of this year (for a total reduction in funding of >>>> 44.2 percent since 2001) forced the New Orleans district of the >>>> Corps to impose a hiring freeze. The Senate had debated adding >>>> funds for fixing New Orleans' levees, but it was too late. >>>> >>>> The New Orleans Times-Picayune, which before the hurricane >>>> published a series on the federal funding problem, and whose >>>> presses are now underwater, reported online: "No one can say they >>>> didn't see it coming ... Now in the wake of one of the worst >>>> storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of >>>> preparation." >>>> >>>> By Sidney Blumenthal >>>> Salon.com Wednesday 31 August 2005 >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> Here's a timeline for the gutting of FEMA, starting, you guessed >>> it, in 2001. >>> >>> http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_ >>> 09/007023.ph p >> >> Is is just me, or - based on the above info - does this smack of >> heaping amounts of bullshit insult to injury?: >> >> http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/01/katrina.fema.brown/index.html >> > > It's all part of hte new Bush Admin talking points: The people dying > in NO deserve it because they failed to heed the evacuation order. > They are blaming the victim to cover for their own incompetence. And > when they aren't blaming the victim, they are lying: > > " Robert Siegel: We are hearing from our reporter, heAs on another > line right now, thousands of people at the convention center in New > Orleans with no food, zero. > > Chertoff: As I said, IAm telling you we are getting food and > water > to areas where people are staging. The one about an episode like this > is if you talk to someone or you get a rumor or an anecdotal version > of something I think itAs dangerous to extrapolate it all over the > place. > > [Snip] > > Robert Siegel: But Mr. Secretary when you say we shouldnAt listen > to > rumors. These are things coming from reporters who have not only > covered many many other hurricanes, theyAve covered wars and refugee > camps. These arenAt rumors, they are saying there are thousands of > people there. > > Chertoff: I would beaI have not heard a report of thousands of > people in the convention center who donAt have food and water." > > > > Imagine what kind of mess this would be if Bush's first choice for > Director of HS, Bernie Kerik, had been confirmed. I believe that even fox news was reporting this story. Perhaps Chertoff is sitting in a room alone with no communication with the outside world. I saw a local story last night on which they had a NO policeman who has resigned because the conditions were too much. He said that even the police are having to go into stores for food and water. .